again with the waiting
It’s definitely not summer but not quite autumn here on the farm. We mark that after a significant rain event, typically 100 or more millimeters (@ four inches) in three days or less. That flushes out our micro-hydro pipes and puts us back on a 24/7 supply of the wet stuff until the next drought. When we installed our off-grid power system nearly 20 years ago, we didn’t get a big enough battery bank to get us through the lean times. Our solar panels supply enough energy through the day and well into the evening right now, but we need a battery boost via diesel generator before daylight.
We are replacing everything in our system except the water wheel. We’re getting much more efficient panels and an upgraded inverter/charge controller. But our big leap is with the batteries. Right now we have lead/acid batts, which require maintenance and ventilation for off-gassing. We were leery of lithium ion batts because of fire hazard. However, the next generation of batts — lithium ferrous phosphate — are nowhere near as dangerous and don’t need maintenance or ventilation. They are also so much smaller we can put them in the house, where they would experience much less temperature extremes.
Hopefully we will have all this resolved by the end of this month. As we wait, I have a wealth of distractions. October, with baseball waning, basketball waxing and football in full sway, is a sports fan’s dream. My other spectator sport, politics, is also rife with, well, spectacle. The inevitable dethroning of Kevin McCarthy was messy enough on its own, but the GOP put a cherry on the top of it when it ham-handedly ordered Nancy Pelosi immediately out of her office in the Capitol building even as she is in California due to the death of Dianne Feinstein.
Aging Orange, of course, can’t stay out of the headlines. Despite several warnings about comments he has made on social media, he seems determined to be jailed or sanctioned because of them. That might help him with fundraising, but I’m not sure if it gains him any new converts. I’m cheered that military leaders like John Kelly and Mark Milley are calling Trump out for calling veterans “losers” and “suckers”. It’s been several years since he first did, but look for ads built around that scorn next year.
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Anchor Struck 
Sounds as if you are either planning on staying there as long as feasible OR making sure you can negotiate top dollar for your homestead should Chris not evolve to a position where he could “take over the reins”. Basically, you sound solid and well-I think of you often as we all become-hopefully as gracefully and painlessly possible -older. I had dreams as a younger adult with each page I read in the “Foxfire” series… too aware of my limits and joy of comfort to seriously view such now. Yes, sports always offer me fine distractions from the harsher realities of actual life events–and unfortunately the most entertaining as well as disgusting sport is that of watching the politics of trying to keep this experimental democratic republic afloat among all the years you and I have been blessed to observe. I can only hope that my Buddhist Christian friends are correct and that karma will be served appropriately and that brotherly love can triumph-already we have seen these cycles interrupted too many times by greed for money/power and the absolute inhumanity of violence/war that greed creates. Love you AP and your wonderful words of wisdom, if not of hope. Peace, Marine…
The slow fade of summer to fall has long reminded me that all things (and humans) shall pass. This time around, though, I’m rebounding from health snags and can again participate in the most practical yet satisfying exercise ever: splitting firewood. Autumn feels more like the start of a new year than January 1st, which — despite its many bowl games — is just another winter day. Peace and love to you and the Colonel.